Storyboards | DVcreators.net

Shooting Awesome Video

May 22, 2009 in cinematography, lighting, location sound, planning, self-paced training, web video by Josh

NOW AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD THROUGH DVcreatorsUniversity!

Shooting Awesome Video is the world’s best complete beginning course on shooting high quality video.

If your video footage looks like “Blair Witch” or “Cloverfield”, and you wish it looked more like “Amelie” or “Hero”, Shooting Awesome Video is the perfect learning experience. It is like a complete “consumer film school” for anyone who wants to dramatically improve the quality of the video footage they shoot.

Shooting Awesome Video is not meant for professionals. It was created for novices who wish to learn Hollywood secrets of camera operation, composition, lighting and location sound in a fun, family-friendly, fast-paced course. However, Shooting Awesome Video is such an excellent complete introduction to production it is the perfect prerequisite to more professional-level courses such as our DV Enlightenment lighting course.

Shooting Awesome Video was originally released on CD-ROM, and has already helped thousands of hobbyists, teachers, students, and budding filmmakers learn the essentials of shooting great-looking and great-sounding footage. The American Film Institute chose Shooting Awesome Video as the world’s best beginning production course for a program to teach Los Angeles District high school teachers about shooting digital video.

No one should learn alone. Each screen includes an ”Ask a Question” button that will post your question on our forums for us and thousands of other digital video creators to answer. You are always welcome to join us to ask questions, offer advice, and share tips with other students and your instructor.

What will I learn in this course?

Preproduction

This section covers tips on planning your project.

brainstorming
choosing a “model”
outline
script
storyboard

Camera Operation

This section focuses on setting up your camcorder to get the best results in a variety of situations.

zoom
auto/manual modes
focus
exposure
shutter speed
progressive scan
white balance
filters
preroll/postroll
timecode

Camera Aesthetics

This section focuses on the art of shooting awesome looking video.

rule of thirds
face space
high, low and dutch angles
background considerations
getting coverage of a scene
shooting for the web
shooting tips
accessories

Lighting

This section focuses on using existing lighting, professional lights and ideas for low cost, high quality lights available from a local home improvement store to create magically beautiful footage.

3 point lighting
key light
fill
backlight
background light
the final lighting setup
shooting outside
making your own light kit
using foamcore
making a backdrop

Location Sound

In Hollywood, they say “sound is half the picture”. Yet poor sound is the hallmark of hobbyist video footage. This section covers ways to capture quality location sound, from effective ways to use the built-in mic to showing the use of inexpensive lavalier, wireless lavalier, and shotgun mics.

using the built-in mic
lapel mics
shotgun mics
handheld mics
audio examples for all mics

The Shoot

This section shows a “behind-the-scenes” shoot that demonstrates the techniques shown in the rest of the course.

You’ll see a complete shoot for a short comedic film, watch the director direct the actors, show shots being captured in location order, see a disappearing special effect being shot two different ways, with cool picture-in-picture views of the main camera, and the finished edit of the shoot.

Available for Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista

Price: $19.95

Click here to ask a question about this course or production in general.

Tags: camcorders, cinematography, lighting, location sound, storyboards
12 Comments »

by Josh

How can I previsualize my project for my team, clients or backers without shooting a single second?

February 5, 2009 in planning by Josh

If you really want to previsualize your project before shooting, either for your own benefit or to pitch a project to financiers, your boss, or your mom, consider doing a “living storyboard”- that means:

draw storyboard frames
use the “Photo” button on your camcorder to capture each storyboard frame to DV tape
capture the “footage”
edit the stills together in your editing software
do a scratch audio track in which you do all the voices (and music and sound effects- and even comment on certain shots).

This secret has worked well for others- for example, Elyse Couvillion used this secret to present her idea for “Sweet” to Allen Daviau, who agreed to DP her short based on her living storyboard created in Final Cut Pro.

Check out Sweet on DVD here (includes commentary on the short).

Tags: storyboards
1 Comment »

by Josh

Apple may add storyboarding to Final Cut Pro?

February 3, 2009 in editing, planning by Josh

I remember heading to dinner 6 or 7 years ago with Randy Ubillos, creator of Final Cut Pro, telling him my vision for a future FCP update- incorporating some pre-production elements like storyboarding, in which the user would link captured clips to a storyboard frame, then FCP would rough cut the project together automatically, with multiple takes being multiclips so they could be easily compared.